


Of All The Ways

by procellous



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Magic Revealed, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 15:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/993420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procellous/pseuds/procellous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the ways Arthur could have found out, this was the worst. Because it wasn't Arthur who found out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of All The Ways

Of all the ways Arthur could have found out, this was the worst. Because it wasn’t Arthur who found out.

It was Uther.

He had been so stupid, cleaning Arthur’s room with magic. Gaius had been right, he should have just done it by hand.

But who could have predicted Uther coming in, looking for Arthur? Certainly not Merlin, as  evidenced by the cell he was in. As evidenced by the execution at dawn.

Why had he come in, anyway? Uther must have known Arthur was out training with the knights. Had he known? He certainly seemed prepared for an arrest. He – Arthur. Arthur must have gotten suspicious. Must have ﬁgured it out and tipped off Uther.

It made perfect, terrible sense. There was no other explanation. Arthur – Merlin had trusted Arthur. Had thought they were friends. Hell, he had even loved the royal prat.

But Arthur hadn’t felt the same way.

That was obvious.

* * *

“Arthur! Arthur! Oh, Arthur, have you heard? It’s the most terrible thing! Merlin’s been arrested for magic – they say your father caught him red-handed,” Gwen said.

“He what.” Arthur said, ﬂatly.

“He used magic and Uther caught him – Arthur, they’re executing him at dawn, you have to do something!”

“He – Merlin – magic – what? No way! No way Merlin’s a witch, there must have been some kind of mistake! A mistake! That’s it! Whatever they saw, it must not have been what really happened! And if I can get Merlin’s word on that, an explanation of what happened, I can tell Father the truth!” With that, Arthur turned and raced towards the dungeons.

* * *

“Merlin? Merlin, it isn’t true, right? Tell me it isn’t true!” Arthur demanded. “It was a mistake, right? You weren’t really using magic, right? It was a trick!”

The other boy looked up, making eye contact with the prince, sighed, and looked away.

“It’s true,” he said softly. “I was using magic all along. And you knew, didn’t you? I was such an idiot. Why was I so stupid as to trust you!” His voice raised as he spoke until his last words echoed throughout the dungeons, _trust you! trust you! trust you!_

“Merlin, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, you knew! You knew all along! Or maybe you just suspected, that’s why you didn’t confront me yourself!”

“I had no idea! I didn’t know, okay?”

“Do me a favor, Arthur, and stop lying,” Merlin whispered, suddenly tired and sad. “Just stop lying to me, alright?” A solitary tear escaped his eye and fell to the dungeon ﬂoor.

* * *

As dawn turned the sky bloody, Merlin was brought out for the execution. A large crowd had gathered around the stake, and guards had to keep the crowd from becoming violent as Merlin was lashed to the wooden pole.

He looked up, meeting Arthur’s gaze, and his eyes ﬂashed gold.

Fire blazed around him, completely hiding him from the crowd’s view, but keeping his eyes locked on Arthur’s horriﬁedheartbrokenshockedterriﬁed face. And then the ﬂames swarmed up, covering him, and all Arthur could hear were Merlin’s screams.


End file.
